Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Hastings-Lennox Addington MP Derek Sloan announced Thursday he will not seek re-election in this riding but will instead run in Alberta’s Banff-Airdrie.
Sloan made the announcement at an event in Cochrane, AB, which was streamed live on his Facebook page.
“We will win this riding and we spread this movement across the whole country,” said Sloan. “If you haven’t gathered it already, I would like to tell you officially that I have decided to run in this riding (Banff-Airdrie) in this election.”
Sloan, who has spent much of the last two months holding rallies in Alberta, will now run against incumbent Blake Richards of the Conservatives.
“We’ve done our homework,” Sloan said when discussing why he choose that Alberta riding in particular. “We have excellent support here and I’ll tell you right now there’s no chance that a Liberal or an NDP is going to win this riding. This is a two horse race.”
Sloan was elected as a Conservative in Hastings-Lennox and Addington in 2019 but was ejected from the party earlier this year and has since operated as an independent. He will continue to run as one for this election, which is set to take place Sept. 20. He had expressed his intent to launch his own party earlier this month, but was unable to do so in time before the election was announced.
Sloan went on to say he intends to run for prime minister in the following federal election.